This invention relates to apparatus for gathering and reclamining particulate material, such as wood chips, bagasse bark, shredded refuse, sawdust and the like, for processing at a remote location. More particularly, this invention relates to a unique boom and raker wheel apparatus for loosening, gathering and blending the material from the surface of a pile and directing it to a means, such as a bucket wheel and a conveyor belt, for removal to a remote point for further processing.
Heretofore, the problems associated with dislodging and gathering material from a pile has effectively prevented uniform reclamation of the material, particularly on any kind of automated basis, for further processing. This is especially true of material which had been stored for relatively long periods of time outside and had compacted or congealed into a solid mass, or when it was desired to reclaim material from outside storage during the winter and some or all of the pile might be frozen. Usually, material was reclaimed by utilizing a bulldozer or power shovel. The bulldozer would dislodge and push the material into a pit from which it was funneled out of the bottom onto a conveyor.
However, use of a bulldozer or power shovel of some kind requires the use of at least one operator and entail numerous other drawbacks in their operation. For example, bulldozers tend to crush some of the material as they operate in and around the pile. Further, both bulldozers and power shovels inherently tend to remove large unit quantities at a time and therefore do not pass the material to downstream processing stations in a relatively uniform, free flowing state, or at a uniform rate. Bulldozers reclaim the material in batches which is not conducive to blending. In addition, bulldozers and other types of crawler type vehicles on which various material gathering shovels might be mounted are primary users of fossil fuels which are becoming increasingly expensive and uncertain in their supply. Finally, there is an element of danger associated with operating a bulldozer in a pile of material that might reach thirty feet in height. If the pile is undercut, the overhanging material might collapse and harm the operator.